Bihar Election 2025 Highlights: ‘It is possible’, Prashant Kishor hints at fighting against Tejashwi Yadav

Reacting to Tejashwi Yadav’s comments on the Bihar Assembly elections, Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal said leaders of the INDIA alliance are frustrated because people have rejected them. He added that voters in Bihar prefer development and peace over crime and violence.

Bihar has around 14,000 voters who are more than 100 years old, according to the Election Commission. However, the number of voters aged 85 and above has dropped sharply after the latest Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.

Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi said his party has no issues with other parties but wants enough seats in the Bihar Assembly to gain proper recognition. Ensuring the party is acknowledged in the state assembly is their main demand.

Senior BJP leaders, including Bihar polls in-charge Dharmendra Pradhan, met LJP (Ram Vilas) chief Chirag Paswan on Tuesday. They discussed how many seats the regional party will get in the upcoming state elections, as allies are also claiming seats.

Paswan’s party wants not just a number of seats but also some specific areas where it has better chances. They have asked for a few assembly seats in each of the five Lok Sabha constituencies they had won in 2024.

Chirag Paswan avoided answering questions from reporters at the Patna airport on Tuesday. As soon as he arrived, journalists surrounded him and asked about seat-sharing discussions. Smiling, Chirag said, “The talks are still in the very early stages. We’ll share details when the time is right. There’s no point in saying anything until things are final.”

Bihar Assembly Election 2025 Phase 1 Schedule

Total Seats: 121

Notification date: October 10

Last date for nomination: October 17

Last date for scrutiny of nomination: October 18

Last date for withdrawal of nomination: October 20

Voting: November 6

Election Result: November 14

Bihar Assembly Election 2025 Phase-2 Schedule

Total Seats: 122

Notification date: October 13

Last date for nomination: October 20

Last date for scrutiny of nomination: October 21

Last date for withdrawal of nomination: October 23

Voting: November 11

Election Result: November 14

According to a statement issued by the LJP (Ram Vilas) in Patna, “Party chief Chirag Paswan has appointed Lok Sabha MP Arun Bharti as the in-charge of the party and state unit chief Raju Tiwary as co-incharge for Bihar assembly polls with immediate effect.”

Bharti is the brother-in-law of Chirag Paswan.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi said the poll panel will submit whatever information it gets on excluded voters by Thursday (October 9), when it will conduct further hearing on the pleas challenging the SIR exercise.

The top court said everyone has the draft electoral roll and the final list has also been published on September 30, so the required data can be furnished through a comparative analysis.

Hearing the petitions on the Bihar SIR, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission of India to provide details of 3.66 lakh excluded voters from the final electoral list after the Bihar special intensive revision (SIR).

The EC in response told the SC that most of the names added to the final electoral roll are of new voters and a few old voters. “No complaint or appeal filed till now by any excluded voters,” the Election Commission told the Supreme Court.

The EC published the final voters’ list on September 30 after the special intensive revision.

We are working on political profiles of key contenders in the Bihar Assembly elections 2025. The list includes the longest-serving CM Nitish Kumar, RJD face Tejashwi Yadav, Union Minister Chirag Paswan, electoral debutant Prashant Kishor, among others.

A look at Chirag Paswan’s political graph in his home state:

At 43, Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing Industries Chirag Paswan currently represents Hajipur in Parliament. The seat was once synonymous with his father, the late Ram Vilas Paswan, who won it eight times over a political career spanning five decades. Ram Vilas, a formidable Dalit leader, served in multiple Union Cabinets, working with prime ministers across political divides. Chirag, by contrast, appears intent on charting a more localised path.

If 2020 marked the year Chirag inherited the mantle of his father’s political legacy, 2025 seems to be the year he defines his own. Months before the Bihar elections, he told reporters in Patna, “Bihar mujhe bula raha hai (Bihar is calling me),” promising to spend more time on the ground than in Delhi. READ MORE

Janata Dal (United) MP and National Working President, Sanjay Kumar Jha, on Tuesday, emphasised that the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will contest the Bihar Assembly elections “unitedly”.

Speaking to ANI, Sanjay Kumar Jha stated that the upcoming polls will determine the course for Bihar over the next 25 years.

He said, “The NDA will contest the election unitedly. The biggest issue in these elections is where Bihar will be in the next 25 years after the formation of the Government.” Further, he slammed the RJD-Congress regime for “negative growth” in Bihar after Liberalisation in 1991.

– via ANI

The CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation has turned down an offer to contest 19 seats in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections as part of the RJD-led Mahagatbandhan, according to a party source, reported PTI. The Left party felt that the offer was not respectful or appropriate. In 2020, CPI(ML) had also contested 19 seats and won 12. This time, the party had requested around 40 seats. The source added that some of the previously held seats were also changed in the offer. CPI(ML) plans to make a new proposal to contest about 30 seats, which is roughly 25% fewer than they had initially sought. The party also pointed out that their support went beyond just the seats they contested, helping the alliance secure votes in nearby areas as well.

Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary on Tuesday said that they are having discussions on seat sharing and the decision will be announced soon. On Bihar poll dates he said, “The public will vote in favour of the model of development of the past 20 years.”

JD(U) MP and National Working President Sanjay Kumar Jha said that in the last 20 years, Bihar has made major progress under Nitish Kumar’s leadership. He pointed out that the state has improved in areas like roads, electricity, law and order, and women’s empowerment, describing Bihar as being in “fourth gear,” ready to move forward. He added that the upcoming election will decide whether the state continues to move ahead or slips backward.

According to him, the NDA will fight the election together, with the main question being where Bihar will stand in the next 25 years.

Jha recalled that when economic reforms began in 1991, states across India attracted IT industries and investments, but Bihar lagged behind, facing negative growth. He criticised the earlier government for focusing on unproductive schemes and allowing lawlessness to grow instead of building industries.

Congress’ Central Election Committee will be meeting on Wednesday to take a decision on their candidate list for the upcoming Bihar polls, a PTI news report citing sources said.

The Congress leadership is holding key meetings even as discussions over seat-sharing with allies like the RJD and Left parties continue. According to party insiders, the Congress is finalising its candidates early to stay fully prepared and avoid last-minute surprises, reported PTI.

The Supreme Court on August 13th had said that the Special Intensive Revision of Bihar’s voter list has turned into a battle between the Election Commission’s authority to conduct elections and the common citizen’s right to have their name on the voter list and to cast their vote. The hearing today is yet to begin.

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has pointed out that the Election Commission has not given an answer on “how many Bangladeshis were caught”. He welcomed the move of poll dates announcement but added that he wants the EC to reamain “impartial”.

Ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, the Election Commission on Tuesday published the final electoral rolls for the state, listing nearly 7.42 crore voters after completing the special intensive revision process.

Congress’ General Secretary in-charge Communications Jairam Ramesh took to X today and wrote, “Much was made of the need of the SIR exercise to remove non-citizens from the electoral roll. The EC has not had the integrity or the courage to enlighten the country on how many such non-citizens in Bihar were removed from the electoral roll. If it had done so, it would have been even more exposed than it already is.”

Maithili Thakur is a renowned folk singer from Bihar who is likely to contest the upcoming Bihar Elections 2025 on BJP’s ticket. SHe had recently met BJP election in-charge Vinod Tawde and Union Minister Nityanand Rai which led to the rumours of her standing in the state assembly elections.

Read More Here: Bihar Election 2025: Who is Maithili Thakur? Folk singer likely to contest from Alinagar on BJP's ticket

Congress MP Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday yet again slammed the Election Commission, saying it lacked the “courage and integrity” to inform the country about how many foreigners were actually removed from Bihar’s voter list, even though the Commission had emphasised the need for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to clean up the electoral rolls. He pointed out that a lot of focus had been placed on removing non-citizens from the voter list, but the EC did not provide details on how many were actually removed. Ramesh added that if the EC had shared this information, it would have faced even more scrutiny than it does now.

Congress’ senior observer for the Bihar Assembly elections, Ashok Gehlot, on Tuesday expressed confidence that the INDIA bloc will win, ahead of his visit to the state. Gehlot is scheduled to visit Bihar on Wednesday to start campaigning for the upcoming elections. He said he will focus on election activities and is confident that the INDIA bloc will form the government in the state.

According to a press release by the All India Congress Committee, senior Congress leaders Ashok Gehlot, Bhupesh Baghel, and Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury have been appointed as senior observers for the Bihar elections.

RJD MP Manoj Jha said that Tejashwi Yadav has set a clear and strong agenda, and there are attempts by others to imitate it. “Tejashwi Yadav has drawn the biggest line and there are attempts to copy and paste it,” he said. Jha added that the election results, expected in a month, will surprise those who believed they had complete control over institutions. He also called on the Election Commission to act impartially and take action against hate speech.

32 constituencies in Bihar have been identified as high-expenditure areas, which means large amount of cash was seized from these areas in the past elections.

Bihar’s Chief Electoral Officer, Vinod Singh Guniyal, on Monday said that the voters will be handed over their voter slips four days before the polling takes place.

The Election Commission of India announced the poll dates on Monday for all 243 Assembly seats in Bihar, with the counting of votes scheduled for November 14. The voting will be held in two phases on November 6 and on November 11.

Regarding the Bihar election dates, BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said that people in Bihar and across the country are noticing the positive changes under Prime Minister Modi at the Centre and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in the state. He expressed confidence that the voters will give a strong and decisive mandate in favor of the BJP-NDA alliance.

Union Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi welcomed the Election Commission’s decision to conduct the Bihar Assembly elections in just two phases, saying that a shorter schedule would help ensure a fairer poll. He explained that fewer phases would limit chances for illegal activities at polling stations. Manjhi noted that longer, multi-phase elections give more opportunities for booth-level manipulation, whereas a shorter, two-phase schedule reduces such risks and encourages neutral voting. He also expressed confidence that the elections would be carried out with full transparency.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Tuesday mocked the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), which includes the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), saying the alliance will face defeat in the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections. After the Election Commission announced that voting will take place in two phases on November 6 and November 11, Lalu Yadav posted on X, “Chhah or gyarah, NDA nau do gyarah.”

The Supreme Court is set to hear the final arguments on Bihar’s final voter list revision which was conducted by the ECI as part of Special intensive Revision. The hearing is being held today, right after the ECI announced the poll dates on Monday.